TV-SAT, CCTV, WLAN Dipol Weekly Review

New supercomputer without GPUs.

China has announced the construction of a new supercomputer called Lingshen, which, according to official information, is expected to achieve more than 2 ExaFLOPs of real, sustained computing performance. The project is distinguished by the fact that it is to operate without the use of graphics accelerators (GPUs) and without foreign components. If these assumptions are met, it will be the world's first exascale system based solely on CPUs.

The Shenzhen-based National Supercomputing Center is in charge of the project, with details presented by Lu Yutong at a conference on 24 April. According to the details presented, Lingshen is expected to use around 47,000 processors spread across dozens of computing racks, supported by an extensive network infrastructure. The system is expected to have 650 PB of storage. The scale of the project shows that its aim is not only to achieve high computing power, but also to demonstrate full technological independence.

The most unusual element of the concept is the abandonment of GPUs, which are currently the foundation of the most powerful supercomputers. Today's exascale systems, such as El Capitan (the world's fastest supercomputer), are based on an architecture combining CPU and GPU, as it is the GPU accelerators that are responsible for much of the performance in artificial intelligence or scientific simulation tasks. Lingshen is set to take a very different route, relying solely on the power of CPUs, which, if successful, could mark a major shift in the approach to designing this type of computer.

High performance computing (HPC) is a field of computer science that deals with processing huge amounts of data and solving complex problems that cannot be analysed efficiently on standard computers. Such systems are used in weather forecasting, climate research, drug design or artificial intelligence development, among others. The Lingshen project is to be implemented in stages. In the pilot phase, it is planned to use Huawei servers with Kunpeng processors based on the Arm architecture. Ultimately, the infrastructure is to be significantly expanded to include thousands of servers and more than a hundred thousand CPU cores. At the same time, there are reports that some of the solutions may be x86 compliant, raising questions about the full extent of technological independence.

At this stage, the project remains in the realm of announcements, as no test results or independent benchmarks have yet been presented. By comparison, the El Capitan supercomputer already in operation achieves around 1.8 ExaFLOPs in practice, demonstrating the difference between declarations and real-world systems. Nonetheless, Lingshen is highly symbolic - it fits into the broader context of technological rivalry, in which China is seeking to become independent of foreign suppliers and develop its own solutions in key areas such as semiconductors and computing infrastructure.

How to make an 8J ODF with universal fiber optic cable?

The following pictures show the next steps in completing the termination of the 8-fibre DRAKA L76008 universal cable in the L51454 RACK 1U ODF. SC duplex adapters L42211 and Ultimode PG-171A-1 SC/UPC colour pigtail kits L34171A were used.

HDMI to RF conversion at 4K resolution.

The 4K HDMI → RF modulator is a device for converting the video and audio signal transmitted via HDMI into an RF signal that can be distributed via a standard aerial installation. In this way, a single source signal from, for example, a TV set-top box, Blu-ray player, computer or console can be distributed to multiple TV sets simultaneously, without the need for additional HDMI equipment. The modulator supports 4K (UHD) resolution to maintain the highest picture quality, and the signal generated is compatible with digital TV standards such as DVB-T2, DVB-T, DVB-C or ATSC, depending on the model. This solution is particularly useful in places where a single signal source is required to be distributed to multiple TVs, such as hotels, guest houses, schools, hospitals, shops, service outlets or advertising systems. The use of RF modulation allows the signal to be transmitted over much longer distances than with a traditional HDMI connection, while also making use of the existing antenna infrastructure. This makes installation simple, cost-effective and very flexible, making the 4K modulator a professional solution for the collective distribution of high-quality video signals.

Building monitoring using ColorVu 3.0 cameras with Smart Hybrid Light technology.

The diagram below shows a monitoring system for a block of flats based on a Hikvision IP DVR and hybrid cameras ColorVu 3.0 belonging to the Easy IP 4.0+ series. Smart Hybrid Light cameras combine the advantages of traditional cameras and ColorVu series cameras. Traditional cameras have an IR illuminator that illuminates the scene, enabling night-time image recording at the expense of colour detail loss. ColorVu cameras, can record colour images around the clock, but the use of white light illumination is not always expected. The intelligent hybrid cameras with ColorVu technology are equipped with three scene lighting modes: classic infrared, white LED light and intelligent mode. In intelligent mode, the camera triggers white light when a human silhouette or vehicle is detected, thus providing a colour image. Once the object leaves the detection zone, the camera switches back to IR mode. In addition to illuminating the scene to provide a colour image, the LED light has the additional function of deterring an intruder. The user decides which mode the camera will operate in. The described facility from the outside has been protected with 8 cameras in compact housing DS-2CD2047G3-LIY K03206 with a resolution of 4 MPix, equipped with a fixed focal length lens of 2.8 mm and viewing angle of 111°. Inside the facility, there are 4 dome cameras DS-2CD2147G3-LIS2UY K00921 with a resolution of 4 MPix, equipped with a fixed focal length lens of 2.8 mm and viewing angle of 111°. The cameras have a white light and IR illuminator with a range of up to 30 m.

The proposed positioning of the cameras allows accurate identification of people. A 16-port PoE switch N29986 was used to power the cameras and connect them to the DVR. The cameras support the codecs: H265+, H.265, H.264+, H.264. Using 2 disks of 4 TB each, e.g. M89305, H.265 compression and setting continuous recording at 25 fps for all cameras, the recordings on the hard disks will be stored for 14 days.

A DS-7616NXI-K2 K22146 DVR was used as the video recording device, which supports VCA analytics (virtual line, intrusion area, etc.), motion detection 2.0 and face analysis functionality. Monitoring access from the external network is provided by the Mercusys AC12G N2933 router.

Principles of IP Addressing - Part 7 - DDNS.

If you want to run a server, e.g. with a website or monitoring camera views, which can be accessed from anywhere on the Internet, and you do not have a fixed IP address but receive it dynamically from a DHCP server, you must use the DDNS (Dynamic Domain Name System) service, i.e. a dynamic name server service.

Subscribers connected to the Internet often do not have a fixed public IP, but it changes from time to time. In this case, the user unable to directly connect remotely to such a location. Here, the DDNS service comes to the rescue, which, like the DNS, has a database of entries of the domain and numeric address relationships, but it can be updated at any time by the domain owner (a dedicated service/application installed on user hardware notifies the DDNS server of the address change). Thanks to that, the server can be reached under one fixed name, regardless of what IP address it currently has. For that reason, you can communicate with the server only using the domain address translated by the DDNS server (unless the current numeric server address is known, but you never know how long it will be valid).

Note that it may take a short while, after the DHCP server changes the IP address, before the program or router detects that, and then it may take about a minute for the update information to be sent to the DNS server. You have to bear in mind that the server may be unavailable for some time when the IP address changes.

Use of relay outputs in Hikvision IP video door entry monitor DS-KH6320-WTE1. When installing a video door entry system, there is sometimes a need to install additional signalling to inform the user that someone has pressed the call button at the door station. An example of this could be installing the system in a noisy production hall, being used by a hearing impaired person, or wanting to install signalling outside the house so that when you are in the garden you realise that someone has come...>> more